Rise of the Guardians: Guardian of Wishes
by Mysterie1985
Summary: Everyone knows Jack's story... but what about the Guardian of Wishes? Who is she? Where did she come from and what is her history with Jack? [Prequel to The Mortal Guardian]
1. Prologue

It was an ordinary day, like any other you could say. What a boring way to start a story. Don't all the stories you read talk about such things when they include someone who's supposedly normal, but what does that even mean? I guess it's supposed to mean I breathe the same air or something or other. I've never been normal though. I've never really had friends that I could call for the heck of it, never really had people to lean on when the tough times have come... maybe that's why I am the way I am. I have a boyfriend that I've lived with for a year and yet I still don't do social things. I mean, I get out and do stuff of course, but I'm still that lone wolf. Maybe you ask why I'm this way and I could give you like... some sob story or something but you're probably not interested in that. That you're still here reading this is a sign you understand that I'm not normal. That what happened to me is something that might interest you. Ever heard of Jack Frost? Yeah, as in the Guardian of Fun, that Jack Frost. Not the stupid cartoonish guy who looks dressed in blue colonial or even the clay figure who looks like some court jester. I have a bit of a history with him. Have I got your attention yet? Good. Well sit back and I'll tell you how I know Jack. Just don't expect no happy-movie-ending because honestly... real life isn't like that and it's been years since I've seen Jack... I haven't seen him since 2012.


	2. 1 - Snowfall

1 - Snowfall

Silent. Beautiful. It fell as it always did. She didn't want to go outside; she hated being cold but her father insisted that she go out at least once before the snow disappeared. It was February and it was cold... and SNOWING. It was spring time, it wasn't supposed to be snowing! Yet here in Augusta it was. A small town where many people raised their kids only to work in some other city because the town was too small to have good jobs. Not that the eight year old was thinking about that as she pulled on the bright pink jacket she'd gotten; she hated pink, but it had been the only color this jacket with the fur lining like eskimos had come in. Her father had insisted just before Christmas that she get a new one because she was growing out of her old one. So here she was now, dressing for the cold weather. Why did it have to snow so close to her birthday? It almost never snowed around Christmas, but around her birthday... it never failed. She wasn't sure why.

"Let's build a snowman." Her father, her only parent. He had brown eyes and brown hair, he was bundled up in a blue jacket and jeans. The backyard was hardly impressive, despite having a swing set she barely used it because she didn't have friends to play with and it was too cold for it anyway. Deciding she might as well, she bent down to begin the work of packing the snow and rolling it along the ground. There wasn't even an inch on the ground so it was going to be a poor excuse for a snowman. Always was, filled with dirt and twigs and dead leaves and what-not. Still she built the base while her father worked on the second part and soon enough they had a snowman that was about as big as she was. The snow was still falling and she wondered if it would stop. Her father too a picture with his camera.

"Ready to go in now?" He asked.

"In a minute." She replied and he left her out in the yard. She could come in when she wanted, but for some reason she hadn't followed despite the fact that she hated being cold. She didn't hate winter, the snow was pretty, but she hated the cold and prefered the heat of summer. It was as she was looking at her snowman that she had the sudden feeling that she was being watched. She brushed a bit of fallen snow from the stray strands of her dark chestnut hair as she turned her head, dark brown eyes searching along the line of trees that were blocked off by the metal fence that surrounded her yard. She didn't see anyone, but she had this feeling... A feeling that she wasn't as alone as she thought and she stood there a moment trying to peer past the trees as if she was expecting to see a pair of eyes looking back at her or see some evidence of life.

 _Please... please see me..._

The icy blue eyes begged as the brown ones stopped for a moment on his before scanning the rest of the fence and his heart dropped. She didn't see him... but she acted like she knew he was there. Well... that was something... wasn't it? Still, how could someone who didn't see him even think that someone was there when obviously no one else but the two of them were out in this weather? He had brought her snow a day early... tomorrow was really her birthday, but he'd been bringing this girl snow for her birthday ever since she'd moved to this small town when she had been just a year sigh of being old enough to get into kindergarten. He wasn't sure why he had latched onto the girl, maybe it was because she resembled someone he didn't remember; he had to admit that she had looked familiar somehow, but he didn't know her and he'd learned over the years that her name was Kari.

He wondered often why she didn't seem to have any friends, why she was lonely all of the time. Okay, so she was an only child who didn't have her mother around... but that didn't explain the lack of friends. In fact the previous year he'd brought her his snow and his heart had almost burst in sadness for her when he realized that no one who she had invited for her birthday was coming that year. Previous years, when she'd been younger, she'd always had people at her parties. Classmates... so why had nobody showed up to her seventh birthday party and why did she seem so sad all of the time? Maybe that's why he was with her almost constantly now, trying to get her to see him. He wanted to be her friend. He HATED the way she was treated... no one else seemed to see the lonely little girl who was being picked on at school, but during the cold months when he'd come by he'd always hear their taunts. No one ever stood up for her... she stood up for herself... but there were many times when she'd gone home just to cry. He couldn't be around for the warm months, but he didn't think that they were any better than the cold... at least during the summer she didn't have to listen to her peers pick on her. He did everything he could to cheer her up when he saw she was having a bad day... he made it snow... he slicked the sidewalks to make the mean children slip... but she never seemed to notice and it just made him all the more sad. Still, today had been different. After two years straight of trying everything and anything to get her attention... it seemed that something had... that... maybe she almost believed... He sighed when he saw her go inside without looking at him. Okay... so it wasn't a successful day, but it wasn't a total loss either. He would try again tomorrow and the next day... and the next day... so long as she was a child, he wouldn't give up. His name... Jack Frost. A spirit of winter, who couldn't remember anything beyond waking up some 200 years before in a pond in Burgess. Maybe this was why he was here, to help this little girl, to be her friend when she didn't have any; maybe if he stayed around with her she'd prove to be the reason he was here... The moon never gave any answers, no matter how many times he shouted, begged, ranted, raved... Always silent to him since the night it had awoken him and told him his name. He, Jack Frost, was invisible to the world around him; aside from other spirits, no one seemed to notice him no matter what he did... and he'd done some pretty extreme things but every time it had always been blamed on science or Mother Nature. Mother Nature hadn't liked that honestly and had chewed him out a couple of times for the massive blizzards he'd made that she was blamed for... but what else could he do? His powers were limited to the forces of winter... frost, snow, ice... it was all he could do. Well, aside from using the cold North wind to carry him about or make it colder... That didn't do anything either. Stories about him were mostly lost to times gone by too... most depicted him as either some silly jester or an old man... Old Man Winter... that was one of the names for him. Oh lord... he'd love to have known who had come up with THAT and have frozen then before THAT particular tale could have gotten around. Why the heck would he be an old man? Well... whatever... he had more snow that needed spreading... he'd be back to Augusta tomorrow. Without a second thought he hopped into the sky and shot off towards the rest of the states that were due for some snow.


	3. 2 - Thank You

_Beautiful._ It's all she can think as she stares out at the snow that falls gently across the country-like area. It wasn't really out in the country, but houses were far enough away that it might as well have been. It probably once had been the country before Augusta and Andover had expanded so far that they were nearly on top of one another now... they were literally about 10 minutes away from one end to the other. At 14 years old she could appreciate the snow, she had just turned 14 actually. Another snow on her birthday. Then again, she'd pretty much come to expect it now. Almost no snow on Christmas, but there was always some around the day she was born... sometimes it came days before... but still it was there just the same. She looked out the glass porch door, watching it drifting down in the pre-dusk sky. It would be dark soon. She didn't see the winter spirit who crouched on the wooden porch outside. A sad look on his face, his eyes gleaming like icy teardrops.

"I wish you could see me... I know you know I'm here..." Frost began to spread on the very edges of the glass and Kari sighed as it began to obscure her vision of the snow. She still didn't like the cold, but tonight she did something she hadn't ever done before and Jack's eyes widened as she opened the door and stepped out into the cold snow in bare feet. She stood in jeans and a blue sweater, but the wind that toyed with her hair didn't seem to bother her as she stood just inches from the winter spirit. Startled she'd come out, he knew there was no hope that she would ever see him; she was past the point of believing. His eyes widened a little as she seemed to look around, her breath puffing out in the cold evening air; her eyes had tinged to a dark green as she had grown older, something he'd puzzled over and wished he could ask her about. He'd never seen anyone whose eyes changed colors like hers. He'd spent years trying to talk to her... but nothing. She'd never responded to him, so he'd pretended sometimes that she could hear him and talked to her when he could. It was better than nothing, but now she was practically an adult and no adult believed in the Guardians. What chance did he have now? He nearly lost his balance when she spoke.

"I know you're there... I can feel you... Why is that? I can never see you... never hear you... but... I know you're there... Like a guardian angel... always watching over me." He was silent, eyes wide. Could she really feel his presence. He reached out to touch her, she shivered but his hand didn't fully go through her... but at the the same time she didn't reach back either.

"I don't know who you are... I wish I did. I just want to thank you... I guess..." Jack flushed a little, but he was also confused. Why would she be thanking him? She couldn't even see him and yet he swore she was looking at him when she turned and seemed to meet his eyes, but her eyes were hazy and she closed them after a moment.

"I can't see you... but thank you... for the snow all these years." Had he been that obvious? Why was it she'd noticed this and not thought it was Mother Nature like most people? She was different... he could tell... but ... he wasn't sure just **how** she was different. Only that she seemed to know things that he'd never heard from anyone else. Like tonight... She smiled a little.

"Maybe it's just my imagination... but after all these years... I just have this feeling that you've been there. That there really is someone. Someone who looked out for me during winter and maybe that's why I wasn't scared when the truck spun about that one time that I was in it when the man I was with, with my mom, hit black ice. I guess I knew I'd be okay no matter what. So... thank you. My Winter Angel."

Jack flushed as he watched her walk inside and gently close the door. How had she known? How could she have possibly known that he had been there that day when she was 12? That he had shifted the ice beneath the truck to right it again after he'd seen the truck spin out of control? There was no way she could have known. She'd never seen him... not once. Never spoken to him until now. He felt like he'd been bowled over. She'd said thank you... Even confirmed that she knew he was there even though she rarely ventured outside... He sighed and soared up above the clouds. She would be inside, safe, for the rest of the evening, but he couldn't get out of his mind what had just happened. He was pretty sure that simple act would be enough to keep him going for a good long while. She KNEW! After all this time his efforts weren't in vain! He whooped as he flew through the sky and darted off above the clouds to bring more snow days to children. She knew! Oh Moon... she KNEW! He laughed, he was finally making progress! Okay, so she hadn't seen him but she was so close! And even grown up as she was she could still feel him! That was such a wonderful shock! He spent the rest of the evening whooping and laughing as he brought snow to the planet. What a great time to be alive!

While Jack was celebrating what he considered a small victory, Kari curled up with a cup of hot coco on the couch. She was thinking about the events of that summer now; her life had suddenly turned upside down. She didn't like to think about it, but aside from making a new friend she'd also discovered that she was as... not normal as she'd always thought. She had discovered the ability to control her own dreams. Even affect the dreams of others if she found those dreams. Her peaceful mood had been shattered, she'd become somber now as she considered what had happened in the short amount of time that had been summer; things had changed for her and she knew she'd never be the same. Still, her winter angel was still there. That much hadn't changed... but how long had they been there? How long had she had someone looking out for her? The more she considered it the more she felt sad she couldn't see them... whoever they were... An invisible angel she wished she could see. A protector of sorts who she was sure had been following her around most of her life if not all of it. Another thought came to mind that made her flush a little, she hoped that her winter angel couldn't come into her bedroom... She'd been discovering herself as a woman lately too... part of growing up and since she didn't have a boyfriend or anything to help her deal with that... well... She'd been dealing with it on her own. She'd been hearing about such ideas and stuff since she was twelve... she wasn't sure where she got them exactly, or heard them, but she had. Lord but that was embarrassing to think about! She just really hoped that wasn't the case, just in case she ever met this guardian of hers. Boy wouldn't that be awkward? She shoved the thoughts away and finished her hot coco before going to her room to play some Pokemon. She needed to distract her mind with something more pure before that not-so-pure part of her decided to chime in and wreak havoc in her mind. That was another thing she'd been a bit surprised to discover... she had someone else in her head. Someone who wasn't evil per say... but was older and yet it wasn't like a split personality where she would suddenly take over her or anything like that... at least she was sure that wasn't the case because wouldn't people around her who spent most of the their time with her have noticed if she had a split personality? Plus she could hear the other's thoughts... They weren't all that pleasant either, but she wouldn't say they were evil... just... Well she wasn't quite sure.


	4. 3 - Invisible In Memory

She stood, weeping against the wooden fence that stood between the two houses, one was hers, the other was a rental that her father owned. She knew in her heart that she would never have children... she would never marry... For it she wept even as her mind reeled with memories and the feelings that she had been overcome with. Feelings and knowledge she could not explain.

 _Why am I cursed?!_ Her mind cried out as she sobbed quietly, there was no one around to hear her. No one cared... Oh she'd heard the "I love you" from relatives, but she didn't feel loved. She felt like a burden. A waste of space... of money... She cried harder, her body shaking.

 _A heavy set girl pushed by her in the school lunch line._

" _Out of my way fatso." The girl was one to talk... she was a lot fatter... like... almost twice the size Kari was... She just stared at the girl in mild shock at the audacity of the other high schooler..._

Another memory...

 _A boy with brown hair who had brown eyes walked over to her. He smiled. Well, that was new._

" _Would you go out with me?" Kari didn't know what to say. No one had ever asked her out before and suddenly this boy had asked her out in front of her class- The boy started laughing. She knew she was red as a clam._

" _Sorry, I'd never go out with you." He laughed and walked back to his place in line with the other middle school students. She was furious! How DARE he! She felt anger and humiliation and then... pain... oh God she wanted to just find a hole to curl up in and die as the laughter of her peers rang in her ears even after the true sound of it had died..._

She cried until she had no more tears to shed. She went back into the house, eerily calm as she went through several things in the house. She was going to kill herself... She thought about how to do it... She could use her dad's pistol... but she didn't know where he kept that thing... darn. Okay, that wasn't an option then and it'd be too messy anyway. Suffocation? No... can't do that to yourself with a pillow... plus her dad would come home and save her from doing it in the garage and she didn't want to accidently kill her cats with her since they lived in that garage... poison... That was a good idea... but how was she going to do that without her system just throwing it up? She spent the rest of the week thinking about this... It was only one day when her father was out that she began working on it, unaware that her winter angel had stopped by to see what she was doing; it was cool enough he could be here with the cloud cover... almost about to rain. He peered in and watched with growing horror as she mixed a bottle of milk with other poisonous chemicals. He yelled, tried everything to get her attention but nothing seemed to work... He realized with an aching sadness that she was going to try and kill herself... Then, like a miracle, there was the sound of a car parking and with a curse she put away the chemical cleaners she'd been mixing and stuck the former pill bottle full of poisons in the freezer. The one place her father would never look.

Jack's heart pounded, he'd never been so glad to see another human in his life, even if the man was as obtuse at times as the night sky itself. His arrival couldn't have been timed better. He'd unwittingly showed up in time to stop his own daughter from poisoning herself... for now. He was shaking. The one person who showed signs of knowing he was even there and he had almost lost her... He didn't know what he could do or what he would if he did... How was he to fix this? She couldn't hear him... couldn't see him... could only feel his presence when she was outside... It wasn't even fall let alone winter... Jack stared at her through the various windows as much as he could. Most of them all he could see was a silhouette thanks to blinds and curtains.

"Please... please don't..." He whispered vainly as he stared though one of the windows. His eyes on the shadow that was her. She didn't hear him. She had never heard him, but it seemed that for today her attempts to end her life were at an end. He dreaded coming back here to find her gone... He stayed as long as he could but when the weather turned warm again he was forced away. He worried constantly and raged at the moon in his helplessness.

"Why HER?! Why can't she be happy?! Why does she have to suffer like I do?! What have we EVER done to deserve this?!" Jack rages at the moon that night. He snarls up at it, pleads with it to do something... anything... Like normal, the moon is silent in response to everything he has to say. Spent after several hours, Jack tugs his hood over his head and sits on the roof, crying a little. Not just for himself, but for the girl below him who is struggling with life; struggling to keep from destroying herself because it seems that anyone who might truly care, besides himself, is simply not there. Those who are there, seem to simply not care enough to see the truth of how things are. He knew she felt as invisible as he actually was. That she just wanted a way out of the life that she had been given; it was torture to her really, having no one around her to hold her or who truly cared to talk with her... The longer this went on, he knew, the slimmer the chances would be that she would become an actual adult. That she would live to graduate... That though made him shiver, as if he could be affected by the cold, it chilled his heart. He hated seeing that, more than anything... watching someone throw away their life... he'd seen it countless times and it never got any better... He never got used to it anymore than he'd gotten used to the wars people fought... and goodness knows he'd tried to stop a few with his blizzards during the early days... but they had persisted and fought through his storms. Humans had become more and more relentless in terms of war as the years had gone by and now it seemed his cold had very little effect on anyone. It broke his heart, it was as bad as not being seen by anyone. He held his arms around himself, just to reassure himself that he was here... he was real... He wasn't a ghost... he wasn't just nothing... He was alive... Well, as alive as one can be without being human.

"I just... I want someone to see me... to be seen by her... I want to help her..." He whined softly. How often through the years had he said that? It seemed to be a line he said more and more often; as the years and technology advanced, so - did it seem - were the young people who wanted nothing more than to take their own life. Sure, life had been hard in the older times, but people had been harder... they'd weathered all sorts of things no one today had to go through... so then... why did so many people not want to live? Why did so many of them long for death? Why? Why... ?


	5. 4 - Glimmer of Hope

Jack flew across the states, he wasn't looking for anything in particular. So much had changed in the last two years. He'd finally found someone who believed in him, a REAL believer... and he'd saved the world from growing dark and becoming a Guardian... Who would have thought? All those years alone... finally he had believers, they were just a small bunch of course, but news was spreading fast and a certain writer who had a knack for telling stories had made sure his story got out into a movie. Okay, so it wasn't ideal in a way and the story wasn't exactly as how things had happened but it was close enough! The movie had come out Easter and the number of his believers had spiked. Boy but Sandy could really inspire people with his dreams! Well, it was his job after all, but he never would have imagined that so many would come to believe in him again! Wait... what was that? Jack paused as he noticed something glimmer in his snow. Someone had moved it, he could tell... but why? Curious he floated down near the empty parking space to get a closer look... it was... Sure enough, someone had piled the small amount of snow he'd last left this little town into a tall pile and had etched his likeness in it. It wasn't like anything he'd seen a professional do, but he had to admit it wasn't all that bad either. After all, no one worked with snow like he could and he knew just how delicate his snow could be. Someone here had gone to a lot of trouble to make this. He touched the side with a small smile, adding some cold to it to keep it from collapsing. He was touched that someone would do this... obviously there was someone nearby who believed... but who? He considered a moment who it might be before shrugging it off. It didn't matter much, after all his believers were all children. Maybe it was one of the kids that lived in the place. He took off, he had work to do and he almost didn't hear a familiar voice that whispered across the wind as he headed away.

"I hope you like it, Jack..." Why was that voice familiar? He felt like he should know who it belonged to, he shook it off. Still, for some reason it made his heart soar to see that small snow artwork.

Kari stared at the etching she'd done in the snow a moment. Wondering if Jack had seen it. She had seen the movie when it had come out, she'd loved it and had felt a deep connection with Jack the moment she'd seen it. She felt both sorrow and elation for him, when she thought about him; he'd spent so much time alone... like her. She wasn't alone here, she had some friends before she'd moved the year before, it was 2015 and she was a grown adult but that didn't stop her from believing in Jack. She hadn't seen him or any sign of him, but that didn't deter her. Jack was real... she was certain of it. She didn't know how she could possibly be certain of something without any real proof. It wasn't like with her believe in God where history offered proof of existence. Jack Frost was nothing but a myth, but one that had endured with time... like the myths of the other Guardians. She believed in them too, but she couldn't really understand or connect with them like she had with Jack. To her mind, North was nothing but an optimistic, some-time oblivious, jolly individual who had the fearlessness that any leader needed. Bunnymund... well, he was a little too pessimistic, self-absorbed, and definitely cocky... Sandy, well... that one was too monk-like for her tastes though she had to imagine that came from his vast experience as her research on the Guardians had revealed that the little golden man was the oldest among the Guardians. Well, according to her sources anyway; whether or not that was true was something that was just theory really. There were a lot of theories going around really, and since the release of the movie there was a lot of fan made stories going around too. She didn't pay too much attention to them when the movie was released, but this year she'd decided to see if there were any good stories... there were a LOT of good ones... but a lot of ridiculous ones too. She didn't much care for all the "ships" as the phrase was used to talk about relationships that didn't actually exist... Some of it wasn't bad, the one where it was Jack and a female reader was just unlikely. The ones of Pitch and Jack were oddly alluring in some ways... but were, realistically, never going to happen. Jack and Pitch were enemies, that wasn't going to change and as for Pitch... well, the Boogeyman had a sad past but she didn't think that the man he'd once been existed anymore. Thousands of years of suffering being enslaved by Fearlings would wear even the most determined down, chances were that if the Fearlings ever left Pitch, all that would be left would be a husk of a person; a vessel that had lost the ability to operate on its own... or just as bad... a man driven mad. The whole "Jelsa" pairing, which was Jack with a character from a completely different movie made by a different company... that one just made her want to gag. It was beyond ridiculous really, and even IF Elsa had been real she was still human... not to mention a queen... She wasn't a spirit, so chances weren't high that Jack would have any relationship with her beyond the same relationship Kari knew that Jack had with Jamie, his first believer. Three years... three years since the movie had come out. Things weren't what she'd hoped they'd be, as it was... she'd started reading and writing her own stories about Jack not because she was bored or anything but because she felt like something was missing in her life... something that even her long-time boyfriend, Alex, couldn't really fill. If she stopped long enough to think about it, she could almost feel a presence nearby that she was sure was the one she was missing... she felt that there was something she should know and yet... it was beyond her memory. Something she'd long since determined was really not reliable when it came to short term things. Not that she cared that much. The more she read the more she wanted to know about Jack and the other Guardians. She nearly had the movie memorized... or so her boyfriend thought she did. So far she'd not really looked up the books on the other Guardians, after all her true interest was Jack not the four who had seemed to all but ignore him for 300 some years. The movie had said there was 300 years between the time Jack had risen and the - then present - event at the North Pole... in 2012. She'd done the math, if that was correct then Jack had been "born" as Jack Frost in 1712. There was also a debate as to how old Jack was, he looked like he was 16 to her mind, some people said he was 18 but the author of the books on the other Guardians said Jack was 14. Well... 14 or 18... it didn't matter to the fangirls who insisted on pairing him with nearly anyone and everyone under the sun. It was ridiculous... There was even one that had crossed the movie with a popular cartoon TV series, My Little Pony... oh boy was that one ever farfetched! That had been an interesting read though. Kari had enjoyed the crossover but wasn't so much thrilled at the pairing that had resulted... Didn't anyone ever pay attention to the not-so-subtle cues?

Jack Frost and Tooth were the most likely item, Twilight Sparkle would - for the time being - be an item with the human Flash Sentry. Honestly... people had some weird fantasies at times. She never did understand why people just couldn't be happy with how things really were, after all the world wasn't perfect or anything like a fairy tale but that didn't mean it was boring! In fact, there were little miracles all around, the existence of the Guardians was just one of those things that made reality all the more better! Why complicate it with things that weren't there? Okay, so maybe she'd wondered herself about whether or not Jack knew anything about love or what went on behind closed doors between two consenting adults... but hey, she couldn't just ask him right out could she? Even if she COULD she didn't think she would until she knew him better; that wasn't just something someone asked another person after all. She'd been raised to have better manners than that! Still, she didn't blame the people who were unhappy for writing such... hadn't she written stories about meeting Jack and being his friend? Although perhaps it was just wishful thinking... she had asked Jack for snow a couple of times the winter before and she'd been alone when she had... she'd even danced in the snow a bit one day... It seemed that even though she hadn't seen him he had heard her wishes for snow and granted it each time. For as long as she could remember, she'd loved the snow for one reason or another; as a child she'd loved playing in it and as an adult she loved watching it turn the world white and watch it fall. That one time she had danced in the snow she had almost swore she could have felt Jack there with her, but she hadn't seen anyone, of course. Still, she'd been delighted to have the snow on a day she'd had off and had eagerly sought out the cold wetness of the snow, something that would be considered odd by anyone who knew her because she hated getting wet - as she'd tell anyone who'd listen - yet she loved the feel of the snow against her skin and she had enjoyed playing in it as it had fallen fresh from the sky. She'd even stuck out her tongue to catch a few, acting much like the young child she'd once been who had loved to play in the snow and make snowmen or even enjoyed the occasional snowball fight. Since that day though in the snow things had not gone well, she was okay in her job, but she didn't really like it as much as she told people she did; in fact, if she had her way she'd spend her time writing about Jack or doing something else. She'd published a book she'd written with her boyfriend, but that had gone no where because she'd not had the drive to deal with the needed marketing or the money to really do much in terms of advertisement so it hadn't gone anywhere at all and she'd been left high and dry in terms of trying to finish what originally would have been a trilogy on her own. She hadn't been thrilled with that, but that was just one small thing that had began her spiral away from the love she'd once held for Alex, the young man she lived with. It was the little things, as the saying went; how she had to ask him to do things that should just be common sense, like taking out the trash or washing the dishes... and she was the one who always did the laundry... not that she really minded that much but when she'd asked him once to do it he'd told her he didn't know how! How could he not know how? She'd given him the basics that any person living on their own should know by the time they were a teen... whites in warm water, colors in cold. How hard was that? And what was with always leaving the toilet seat up? Yes he had grown up mostly with his own bathroom, but that didn't excuse his forgetting now; they'd been living together for over a year now and he still did it... and of course forgetting to change the toilet paper roll when it was out... He also tended to pester her too. It was play pestering of course, and "bids for attention" as he said... but he did it a lot... like at least once a day.

It was fun and cute at first... but now it was just irritating at times when she was trying to get something done and he pestered her. It didn't go over well that he pestered her about going to bed the same time he did just so he could have something to cuddle... what was she, a stuffed animal? It was sweet at first... but now ... now it just seemed needy to her. She was her own person and she kept different times in terms of work than he did and she knew he knew that so why did he continue to try and pursue it when she had no interest a lot of times in going to bed at midnight when she still had much writing she could do that couldn't be done otherwise because of her work schedule that was in the evening most times? She slept while he went to work and she used part of the time that he slept to do "work" of her own, normally on stories and sometimes she read stories that he didn't particularly approve of or write ones he didn't really like. She'd met someone online who'd fallen in love with her stories and had been writing an on-going story with her that had grown and grown with time but it also had included some things that the internet termed as "lemons" ... basically it was sexual content with a canon character. Alex hadn't liked that she'd taken on a male role to do such things with another male character and she hadn't understood why in the world he was concerned about it. Not like it was real, the only reason she had started it was because it solidified the romantic relationship; her friend - whom she'd talked to about the issue - had asked her if her boyfriend gave her enough attention and while she had reassured her friend that wasn't an issue as she considered it she realized it sort of was. Not that he wouldn't be willing if she'd ever hinted at any such thing, but honestly their working schedules didn't allow for a lot of play like that. Initially when she hadn't been working it had been easy and often that they'd spent time together like that... but once she'd gotten a job that had changed, especially since their working time clashed. She was mostly a night owl anyway, always had been so it didn't bother her that she had evening shifts or that the night seemed to offer the only time that she could really get much done in terms of her writing. She needed a break... her life just wasn't what she wanted it to be. Burgess... why not? The very next day she put in for time off for a week. She hadn't had a vacation in years... not since her birthday two years ago... she was overdue.


	6. 5 - Fate

"I've made up my mind. I need this vacation Alex. I'm going to Burgess."

"Why there? Why not just stay here? I mean, what is there that you don't have here?"

"Nothing really, but I just want to see the city that inspired the movie. A change of scenery will do me good."

"I could take off work and go with you."

"I'd rather you not."

"Why not? It'd be fun!"

"I just need some time to myself."

"Kari... I know things haven't been ideal but please stay here."

"No, Alex. I need this. I told you. I'll be okay on my own, I learned how to navigate Ankeny and Burgess isn't too much bigger than Wichita. I'll take a cab and I'll have my phone and everything."

"I don't see why you want to go by yourself!" Alex seemed frustrated, but she'd made up her mind that night last week. She needed time to herself, time away from Alex, away from the life she'd made in the last year. Time to evaluate what it was she truly wanted from life and what she expected. A year ago she couldn't see herself without Alex and while she couldn't see herself living on her own she also couldn't see herself being with him for too much longer. They'd been dating for years and even after a year of living with each other... knowing each other for nine years... he didn't seem inclined to propose to her and while she might have said yes a year ago she was feeling less inclined to now. She needed to have a chance to just think things through. Maybe Alex wasn't the one she was supposed to end up with... he'd been her first in a lot of things, but... that didn't mean he'd be the only. She didn't regret the time she'd spent with him, be it in person or online over the years; after all, if it wasn't for him she'd probably still be grumbling about men in general. Before she'd met Alex she'd been dumped by someone who'd been around the same age over some stupid mistake made by the boy she'd fallen for. She'd thought that he'd been mature but no, he'd been just another teenager. Now here she was, with the one person she'd thought had understood her and they were having their first real, in person, fight with one another. Something that was rare because they'd always understood each other so well that a fight between them was unthinkable. Oh it had happened once or twice before she'd come to live with him, but it was trivial on the whole and she'd never honestly been unhappy with him... she just wasn't so sure he was the one who could make her happy anymore...

"I need time to think. To just explore a new place and be myself." Alex stared.

"I'm not going to argue about this with you. Just... I have to go, my flight is in an hour. I'll see you in a week." Before he could open his mouth again she'd pulled the suitcase out the front door with her and shut it behind her. It was the first time she'd ever left the tiny apartment without kissing him goodbye or saying she loved him. She was too irritated at him to care. Why couldn't he let her have her independence? Why did he have to cling to her like that?! She ignored his texts and attempts to call nearly half an hour later as she waited at the airport. She felt a little guilty though, she hadn't meant to make him worry... she hated making people worry and she opened the phone:

I'm sorry. I just have a bad feeling about this... please don't go. I love you.

Kari rolled her eyes and sent a text back:

I need this. I'm sorry, besides I'll be fine. You'll see. I'll see you in a week. Nothing is going to happen, it's just a trip. Don't make too much out of it.

She added a second later, out of a sense of guilt that she hadn't put it there before or said it before leaving:

I love you too.

Kari had gotten so used to saying it that it was like second nature now and she hated that. It felt more like saying it to a family member she'd known forever than the person she had once imagined spending the rest of her life with. She buried her nose in a book she had brought with her that she'd read before but that she always enjoyed reading.

"Now boarding flight 732." Kari looked up from her book at that and looked at her ticket. It was time for her to board, the flight attendant called out the group she was in and she gathered everything to stand with the other passengers. She made her way onto the plane, settling into her seat and tucking her carry on beneath her seat while keeping the book in hand and picking back up where she'd left off after buckling herself in. She spent half the flight reading and the rest of it sleeping, though it was fitful; she'd never slept well on moving vehicles and that included planes. Even with a blanket and pillow she didn't sleep well. In fact, she knew she wouldn't until she was safely on the ground and in the cabin she'd rented ahead of time. Who knew there were cabins in the woods around Burgess?

She rented a cab from the airport to the cabin, there was no road to it though so she was dropped off near a pathway that led to it and she thanked the cab driver before pushing through the woods with her luggage. She was just glad she'd packed light. It was freezing here, then again it was still winter here even though Easter was on its way... it was almost a full month away actually and a few of days ago had been Valentine's. Just the day before she'd celebrated her birthday, it hadn't been anything special really... actually it had been horrible because she'd had that fight with Alex... he hadn't even seemed to remember it was her birthday... or if he had he'd been still too shocked by her news of her vacation to remember... It didn't matter. She was going to spoil herself - tomorrow maybe- as if it were her birthday. Today was a Monday, probably the first she'd had in a long while that hadn't required her to work. She should have cared more than she did at that moment, but she had jet lag and just wanted to sleep so she pushed open the door of the cabin after unlocking it with the key she'd been given. She would explore the place tomorrow. She barely noticed the cozy fireplace before a couch, the small TV tucked in one corner with a couple of chairs next to it or the small kitchen off to her right. Kari left the suitcase downstairs and kicked off her shoes near it before dragging herself up the steps to the bedroom, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom; more than she needed, but it would do well for her purposes. She lay down on the bed and pulled the covers over her head, dropping off to sleep.

She awoke the next day to the grumbling of her stomach and she went downstairs to grab her suitcase. She quickly changed in a red sweater and blue jeans before slipping into a black hoodie jacket and walking out the door; to say that she was surprised that there was a lot of fresh snow on the ground would have been a lie, after all wasn't this supposed to be Jack's home town? She heard the laughter of children not far off and curious she headed into the woods only to skirt a small pond and find several children laughing as they tossed snowballs at one another. She was hit with one. All the kids paused, their faces like 'oh shit...' Kari brushed the snow from her sleeve, bent down and made a snowball before hitting the nearest kid and soon they all got over the shock and shrieks of laughter filled the air again as the "battle" resumed. Soon they all flopped down in the snow, wet and exhausted but smiling. Kari looked at the group... luck. Pure luck that she'd come across the kids that looked like those from the movie, slightly different though and that wasn't too much of a shocker. It wouldn't do for it to be too accurate and she turned to a brown headed boy with dark brown eyes.

"You Jamie?" She asked.

"Yeah... how'd you know?" The kid replied.

"I've seen the movie. I was hoping maybe you could help me find Jack." The kids stared at her.

"Wait... you believe in Jack?" One of the kids... Pippa she thought it was... spoke up.

"Yeah, I do."

"Aren't you a little ol- I mean... well... we've just never met an adult that believes." Jamie said.

"I can't imagine there are many adults who would believe in the Guardians. There's a reason for that."

"Um... can you tell us why?" She shook her head.

"It's something you'll understand when you're older. I can't really explain."

"Oh... okay then. Jack's gonna be so surprised! I mean... I can't really say where he's at. I haven't really seen him the last few days but I know he's probably around the pond. I think he's busy this week with Guardian stuff." Jamie motioned towards the small lake that she'd passed by earlier.

"Alright, thanks for the information. I'll keep an eye out for him."

"So, why are you looking for him?"

"I just want to meet him."

"You're not one of those fangirls are you?" Jamie and the others looked at her skeptically and she laughed.

"No, not like that at least. I mean, I think it'd be nice if we could be friends but I just want to meet him. I have a boyfriend back home."

"Well, okay."

"Besides, I think if I got too annoying for Jack he could just run me off with snowballs or fly off." Jamie grinned at that.

"Guess you're right."

"Jamie!" A woman called from nearby.

"That's my mom... good luck finding Jack."

"Thanks Jamie. By the way, my name's Kari."

"Nice to meet you." Jamie said with a smile and a wave before he ran off to his house. The other children had to head home as well and Kari decided that she would head back into the woods to find Jack after she got herself some lunch. Fortunately she could walk through the town and find various places to eat. She settled for a cafe and had some lunch there before heading back towards the cabin; the air was crisp as she walked, she thought about all the things she might possibly say once she finally did see Jack. She found the pond easily enough but there was no sign of anyone being there; she settled down next to the frozen pond, her thoughts drifting to what she had learned about Jack from the movie. she touched the ice with one gloved hand, it was solid, as she expected it to be and she swore she felt a sort of tingling from it. Not the expected tingling one got from something just being cold though. She stayed at the pond until she noticed the sun was starting to sink.

No signs of the winter spirit. _Well, there's always tomorrow._ She thought and wondered if perhaps Jamie and his friends could help... though tomorrow would be a school day for them. She'd just have to wait until they came home from it and could give her a hand if she didn't find the missing winter spirit on her own. She was starting to feel hungry too so she headed back into town for supper. She then returned to the cabin and curled up with the book she'd brought with her on the bed, reading it until she felt too tired to continue and then drifted off to sleep. The very next day saw her up sometime before noon; she wasn't hungry but she did have one thing on her mind, Jack Frost. She was bound and determined to meet the winter spirit if it took all week. She headed to the pond again but there was no sign of anyone there and she glanced at her phone, 11:20a. Jamie would still be in school for sure. _Rats..._ She ventured further into the woods, past the pond, skirting a clearing that just didn't feel right to her. She wasn't sure why but she did and as she ventured deeper into the woods she began to think about where the winter spirit could possibly be... any number of places really. She stopped when she came upon a very tiny clearing where what looked like an ice cavern... literally. There was no reason these small woods should have a cave, but here in right in front of her was this dome-like structure made of ice. It practically radiated cold. _Could this be it? Could Jack Frost really be in there?_ Well, there was only one way to find out; she had to admit this was the strangest thing she'd ever come upon and definitely not something nature was likely to make. She wasn't too surprised when she saw a lanky teen in a blue hoodie and tan pants lounging on what looked like a bed of ice, a shepherd's crook was propped up against the wall nearby. _At long last... I_ KNEW _he was real!_ As she looked at the spirit she noticed he didn't seem much himself, was he paler than normal? Was that even possible? She didn't want to startle him so she coughed. His eye shot open and she almost grinned when she saw the icy blues that latched onto her immediately. Beautiful as they were, as she'd always loved the color blue, they seemed to lack a bit of color.

"I'm not disturbing you am I?" She nearly smacked herself. Of COURSE she was disturbing him! What the heck? All those things she had planned to say and THAT was the first thing out of her mouth... although she had to admit it was very comical watching those eyes widen when he began to realize that she was indeed talking to him. That she, an adult... could see him.

"I-" He was cut off by a hacking cough and her amusement was replaced by concern. Was something wrong with the winter spirit?

"What's wrong?" He winced a little when he finally stopped.

"Just a bug. I always seem to get sick around Easter." Well, she knew a few tricks that might help the winter spirit. Forget spoiling herself, she was going to spend time helping the winter Guardian get better.


End file.
